Sage Frontier Fan Fiction ❯ A Tale of two Fakes! ❯ The Land Before Time XXX ( Chapter 39 )

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier. SquareSoft does, and they don't like that I'm dragging this story out forever. I say to hell with them.

 

Rouge was sure that, at some point in his life, he had a nice, little view of what the world and everything about it should look like. He knew what trees were, and he knew where the sky was. He learned about rocks and buildings and things that really should've stayed on the ground, where gravity ruled like a bad king. But as soon as he stepped through that portal, his tiny, miniscule idea of what everything should look like was erased. It was like things were being scrunched down and stretched out at the same time, and if you looked at something too closely, you'd quite literally fall into the depths of insanity. No. It was insanity itself, personified, and unadulterated. Rouge felt his brain twitch just trying to understand how a tree could be upside-down and down-side up at the same time.

 

“Where are we!?” he finally asked, tearing his eyes from the tree. He saw Blue struggling to float around; the magician was completely frozen in space, but he was still able to move around. Mainly, he was literally trying to swim. And he looked ridiculous, too.

 

“Some sort of temporal rip, if you ask me,” Blue replied with a grunt. Obviously, he wasn't having the easiest time trying to get around. Above him, Zozma just sort of spun around in a circle. How he managed to even get into the chamber, Rouge couldn't even begin to question. It was just a relief to know the crazy Mystic was all right.

 

“Some stupid pile of bullcrap we won't even understand, no doubt!” the red-headed Mystic exclaimed, and immediately regretted it. No sooner than the words left his mouth was he slammed right on his head by a force that was, quite literally, unseen. Then, Kylin materialized right behind him. And if he wasn't a goat, he most likely would've looked annoyed. Or pissed off. At the same time.

 

“Right now, we're in the voids of Oblivion,” the old goat explained calmly, completely ignoring Zozma's groan of agony, “It takes time to get from plane to plane, and sometimes even we get it wrong. Give it some time.” Rouge just blinked. He hadn't even heard of Oblivion, but something told him it was a little worse than space was. And you couldn't even breathe in space! He looked around quizzically. Then he looked back at Kylin.

 

“I hate to be disrespectful, but we shouldn't even be allowed to live here, let alone wait,” the young mage commented. Kylin's look went flat. He wasn't in the mood to be chastised by a baby, in his mind.

 

“I said give me a minute!” the space keeper said irritably, brows creased. Inevitably, Zozma took the worst opportunity to open his mouth as he floated gently around them.

 

“Technically, you said give it some time,” he pointed out. Kylin's left eye twitched as he turned to regard, somewhat resentfully, this insolent, little pest.

 

“If you're going to correct me, I'm going to send you to hell next,” the goat replied blandly, “I am the master of space! For all you know, I said give me a minute sixty years ago!” Zozma just rolled his eyes. The Time Lord already tried that path of logic, and it didn't work back then, either. He snorted and nudged Blue in the ribs.

 

“Should we tell him we've already been to hell and back?” the Mystic asked. Blue gave him a flat look, but said nothing. With Zozma, one did have to be careful; Zozma always took everything literally, even if it might just get him killed. And this would definitely get him killed. And possibly worse, though Blue couldn't imagine what could be worse than death. But he'd let the idiot figure that out for himself.

 

“If you're the master of space, do you have control over Oblivion?” Blue asked instead, and this time, Kylin's annoyance turned to mild surprise. Normally, humans didn't even know the fabrics of Oblivion existed. Was this human truly interested?

 

“No one has control over a plane like Oblivion,” Kylin began slowly, not entirely sure how much he should entrust to the magician, “It's very much like space; made entirely on the basis of nothing. The only difference is that Oblivion is more open to the energies of magic. Space really isn't. You should know this, best of all.” Blue hummed and tapped his chin. In a way, that did make sense. His world, and Fascinaturu, were very tuned to the ways of magic, but the other regions he knew of weren't. Even Hahn Nova had a limit to their magical usage, and they were more in tune to it than, say, Shrike was. Was it possible that, in some unexplainable way, the Magic Kingdom and Fascinaturu bordered on the two vastly different planes? He asked Kylin just that, but it wasn't the goat that answered. It was the Time Lord that explained his question.

 

“It's not so much a bordering, as more of a type of alternate reality,” the old Mystic said, amusement coloring his voice, “Magic is like a cloak to humans; it covers everything that's `real' and distorts it a little bit. Oblivion is the same. It's like an overlay for space, because some worlds in Oblivion also exist in Space, but they don't have quite the properties of both. For instance, there is a world called Domino that sits on the very, very edge of Space, just enough for magic to have a hard time settling in. It wasn't like this; thousands of years ago, it sat within Oblivion's borders, but space and the effects of gravity and magic, given its very tiny landscape, caused it to shift from one realm to another.” This made Blue's head spin a little bit. In the Magic Kingdom, he was given a basic understanding of physics to explain why magic existed at all. It never once mentioned a realm called Oblivion. Was it possible that Oblivion itself disregarded all modes of physics? Once again, he asked this. The Time Lord laughed.

 

“It doesn't discard all laws, but it does warp them a bit. That's what happens when you're in a realm governed almost completely with magic,” the lord continued, and smiled, “So, in effect, this should really be considered the realm of Magic, rather than Oblivion. But so many of the worlds in this realm deal with creatures that are, to humans, almost unsightly. It truly is more of an abyss than a realm.” Blue nodded, doing his best to take this all in. If it were possible, when they left, he'd have to find a way to come back and do some investigation. A realm entirely governed by magic! That thought was endless! Unfortunately, Rouge didn't look nearly as interested as his brother was. He grunted and looked away.

 

“All I want to know is why we're even here,” he grumbled, crossing his arms, “Can't we just, I don't know, leave?” Blue more felt than saw Kylin's annoyance rise. He didn't entirely blame the goat, either.

 

“If we could, we would,” the old creature said gruffly, “But as the Time Lord said, this realm's an abyss. Most of the temporal and physical changes we try to make are swallowed up in an endless swirl of nothing. It's like shooting a fireball at a Flame Hound.” Rouge just moaned. This day just kept getting worse and worse, and if he could've said it, he would've added `as time went on,' too. But at this point, time didn't even appear to exist anymore. As Kylin stated, sixty years could've easily passed them by, and they wouldn't even know it! That was a terrifying thing to think about.

 

“This day officially sucks,” the young mage stated with a sigh, “So, if we can't leave, what can we do?”

 

“Dude, you have to relax a little,” Zozma replied, and gave one of his all-too-familiar grins, “We're in the middle of three of the most powerful realms! We could definitely cause some havoc here!” Ildon just glared flatly at him, and Rouge shook his head. As much as havoc and destruction appealed to him, Blue was lurking right around the corner. Or just hovering right above them. Plus, Fuse was there, too. And as usual, being completely out of the scope of their normal realm did absolutely nothing to diffuse his sense of `justice.' Mainly, his sense being whatever he believed in at that time. And at that time, he believed in not destroying the universe.

 

“Do it and I'm booking you for Extreme Reckless Endangerment,” the cop stated seriously, and crossed his arms, “Considering that simple reckless endangerment can get you up to one year for one person, you'll probably be dead if you try and destroy the universe.” He stopped for a moment and tapped his chin before adding, “Well, that's if you survive, anyway.” Blue just slapped his forehead. Considering that Zozma was actually pretty damn powerful for a Mystic prince, Fuse was being as effective as simply going `Don't do it.' And Zozma, unfortunately, didn't always listen to the word `don't.' And even worse, he did have some level of knowledge of the law, too.

 

“Funny, I've never heard of Extreme Reckless Endangerment,” he mused, and grinned again, “Is that another law you made up?” Silence fell between the two for a moment. Then, Fuse's eye twitched.

 

“Shut it, soldier!” he shouted angrily, “I can make it a law if I ask my uncle to do it!”

 

“And considering that Kylin practically rules the universe, that's a risk that's just not worth it,” Ildon added flatly. Zozma nodded. As much as he really wanted to do something incredibly stupid, he did respect the fact that Ildon could probably stop him in a variety of ways. Most of which would include a sword. Zozma didn't want another sword in his back.

 

“Whatever. I just want to see a meteor slam into someone,” he said, but no one paid attention. Kylin just grunted and turned in what seemed like a random direction. Rouge turned to see what the old creature was staring at. And he found he shouldn't have. Before then, whatever they were floating in looked bright and colorful, like a bad tie-dye job you'd find on one of those old retro T-shirts. Now, all at once, the background darkened, and stars began to appear, as if they were floating around in space again. And it really hurt Rouge's eyes to see it happen, too. He winced, and if he'd been on the ground, he'd have staggered backwards.

 

“Okay, where are we now!?” he demanded angrily, rubbing his aching eyes. Even closed, he found his eyes were still seeing stars. He began to hate this new realm; as much as he loved magic, he really wanted gravity to take hold again. From both nowhere and everywhere at the same time, he heard Kylin's voice again.

 

“We're going to a time zone so far back, that neither Oblivion nor any of the worlds within it even existed,” the old goat stated, and all at once, everyone gasped at that prospect. Were they traveling through time, or through space?

 

“Wait, what!?” Zozma asked in disbelief as Orlouge said, “Before anything existed?”

 

“Why the hell would we want to go there!?” Ciato asked, and Rouge's eyes shot open to see that the white-haired Mystic was indeed next to him. But… but how!? The last thing he remembered was Ciato locking himself in the bathroom. And when he asked Ciato this, the white-haired Mystic snorted and said, “When the master of space decides to screw gravity, anyone within a six-mile limit gets involved. So, guess what, boys and girls?”

 

“Damn, and here I thought we'd actually enjoy this trip, too,” Ildon mumbled. Ciato shot him a deadly glare, but no one else seemed to notice the comment. Mainly because Kylin was speaking again.

 

“To answer your rather dumb question, Mystic, we're going to the beginning of time to fix the chambers that were broken,” the old creature explained simply, as the stars seemed to move backwards around them, “As I've said, neither time nor space are completely interchangeable. But the problem is, as the master of space, I warped time to find the nobleman. And that included warping space, as well. Because I couldn't track my exact positioning, I'll need to head to the temporal chambers of before-time to figure out how badly I've destroyed time.” Rouge shivered. He wasn't entirely big on this whole space-time mumbo-jumbo Kylin was talking about, but it sounded serious enough. It also sounded like Kylin was being particularly reckless this time, but he didn't dare to say that. He didn't need to have his body turned inside-out because he couldn't shut his mouth.

 

Of course, Rouge did want to ask just what the beginning of time was supposed to look like. But again, he was too afraid for his life to ask. And he found his answer pretty quickly anyway; when the background magically shifted and turned to another replica of space, that was what the universe looked like before time. There was literally nothing but stars. Stars, and a whole bunch of absolute silence. This was a time before even gravity or oxygen existed. But instead of dying immediately, like they should have before, they simply floated around, and it didn't appear as if they even needed breathe any longer. That, at least, was a little bit of a relief.

 

But to see everything as a vacuous, vast plain of nothing was disconcerting. After all, Rouge was only mortal, and so was Blue, and all of the Mystics. For moments on end, all any of them could do was stare at the blankness of it all. In one second, in one instant, everything they had known was demolished. Sent back screaming into the abyss known as time, for who knows how long, and who knew if they'd ever get back? Kylin himself hadn't mentioned certain destruction, but he wasn't mortal. The laws of physics and time didn't apply to him. He had nothing to fear. But for the many innocent souls accompanying him, they certainly did. In fact, it was one particularly brave soul that brought this to his attention.

 

“Lord Kylin, will we be able to return to our own time, our own world, once this is done?” Blue asked almost timidly. In the midst of such a vast space, his voice felt oddly muted and demure. Kylin didn't look at him as he answered; rather, he seemed to be looking at nothing and everything at once, as though unsure where to head to next.

 

“If we do this correctly, I should be able to send you all back, safe and sound, to your proper worlds,” the old goat said calmly, distantly. Blue blinked a bit, and a slow frown crossed his face. `If done correctly' didn't sound overly promising.

 

“What do you mean, `if we do this correctly!?” Zozma blurted out, and Ildon hissed at him to shut up, “No, I'm serious. What the hell are you saying!? We can't go back!?”

 

“We are dealing with the very fabrics of space-time right now, at a point before matter even exists,” Kylin replied without hint of offense at the outburst, “When encountering something so delicate, caution must be taken to preserve the world as it should be. But the farther back we go, the higher the rate and risk of error. And we are at the beginning.” Zozma grumbled, but didn't question again. Blue finally understood what Kylin meant. He nodded.

 

“So anything we do will literally alter or destroy one or all of the worlds, including the ones in both Oblivion and in the other realms,” Blue concluded. Kylin turned just enough to see him, and he actually smiled. Not many people would grasp that obvious clue so quickly. Fuse did right to hire that magician, Kylin was sure.

 

“Now you understand why I'm so angry that you've come to bother me. This problem, we've known about for some time. That's why I was asked to create a new world,” Kylin explained, and turned back to whatever it was he was looking at, “Too much magic, and too much power has influenced over seventy-nine worlds in the southeastern sector of Oblivion, and it's spilling over into the other realms as well. The new world was supposed to hold all of that extra power until Bahamut knew what he should do with it.” Blue and Rouge just exchanged very confused glances. Neither had ever heard of Bahamut before, and both had a feeling they'd be getting another lesson in magic that was conveniently banished from the Magic Kingdom.

 

“Who's Bahamut?” Rouge asked, and everyone fell silent. Rouge's face blanched; to him, he asked an innocent question. But obviously, his ignorance was more of an insult than actually spitting in someone's face. And as if his life weren't ironic enough, Fuse was the one to actually answer the question.

 

“Bahamut's the ruler of all magic, boy,” the older cop said quietly, almost darkly, “It's said that the world `o the Espers was forged from his breath, way back in the before times, and that he himself gave birth to the great Winchester line.” Then, the cop tapped his chin when he saw Rouge's reaction and finished with, “Don't they teach you this shit in your homeland?”

 

“The Magic Kingdom prefers to use science and mathematics to explain the physical manifestations of magic,” Blue replied calmly, almost worriedly, “They leave all forms of fantasy away from their schooling unless it's avoidable.” Rouge snuck his brother a flat glance. From the way that sounded, the kingdom was highly limited in their magical views.

 

“Bro, I hate to say this, but the ruler of magic seems pretty unavoidable right about now,” the younger mage stated, and snorted, “Especially since we're magicians and all.” Blue nodded in agreement, and then turned to ask Ildon for more details; he was more than old enough to know something, wasn't he? But when Blue saw him, he regretted his choice. Ildon looked positively spooked by the mere mention of Bahamut. As did the other Mystics, now that Blue thought about it.

 

“Bahamut… ordered you to build a new world?” Ildon whispered, as Zozma's brow creased and he exclaimed, “That stupid lizard doesn't know when to just leave us all the hell alone!” Rouge stared at the two Mystics with utter bewilderment, but Blue seemed more sympathetic. Probably because he knew something was up with them.

 

“What happened?” Blue asked them both, “Who is Bahamut? Do you know him?” Zozma nodded grimly, but it was Ciato who provided the detailed answer. And the white-haired Mystic looked absolutely gaunt about it, too. Any amusement or resentment in his face had left; all that played across him was a seriousness that not even Orlouge expected.

 

“Bahamut is the king of all Espers,” Ciato began, and all around, it felt like time stopped, as if time itself cowered in fear of the name, “Long ago, there was a terrible clash between the Espers. Evil ones versus the good ones, and it became so extreme that the race literally split in two. And Bahamut?” Ciato snorted, and then laughed hysterically as he said the next sentence, “He was so ignorant and rude as to call those evil Espers… Mystics!” Rouge's mouth fell open. Did that mean that Ciato was… no. He wasn't. As soon as Rouge even thought that, Ciato's face screwed up into a nasty scowl and he said, “Don't be a fool, Rouge. I am no Esper. We're a separate race entirely.”

 

“But why would he do that?” Blue asked. Kylin hummed for the first time in what felt like a while, and everyone turned to him. Suddenly, he looked amused with the conversation. He patted over to them and sat down on some sort of invisible flooring.

 

“It was an accident. With so many different races present on every realm, we cannot possibly be expected to remember all of them,” the old goat explained gently, and chuckled, “Rest assured, children, that Bahamut meant no insult. Now, enough on what happened so long ago. We have another problem, and if we don't get it fixed, you won't exist to dwell on your problem, either.” For someone like Ciato, who practically lived to harp on his problem and everyone else's, that was a pretty good incentive to get this over and done with. He shrugged, turning toward nothing in particular.

 

“Whatever. If I see that stupid dragon, though, I'm going to zap him with a phantom,” Ciato mumbled. Behind him, he heard Kylin chuckle again.

 

“You sound like a human we encountered once, not so long ago,” the old goat said with another chuckle. Then his face soured as if the memory of said human was actually painful. And perhaps it was. Then he shook his head and let out a grunt. There was still work to be done.

 

Walking over to nothing in particular, Kylin took a breath and summoned up what looked like a holographic computer. They could see the outlines of a monitor and a keyboard, hovering in mid-air; what amazed them was that it wasn't actually real. It was just that: an outline. With a glance past his shoulder, Kylin signaled to the Time Lord, and the old Mystic walked over smoothly, examining the wonderful creation with awe. To the others, who weren't nearly as old, it was interpreted as a trick of the light, and in some cases, actual magic. But to the Time Lord, it was the terminal of the first records of time. It was beautiful.

 

But he didn't have a lot of time to admire it. There was work to be done indeed, and as Blue watched both of the elder creatures at work, he was aware they were whispering to each other. Of what, he could only guess, but he noticed their growing concern as they'd glance at the screen, whisper, input something he couldn't see, and then repeat the process again and again. Taking an educated guess, he dared to look around to see if perhaps they were trying to take them somewhere else. But everything looked the same. Something had to be wrong.

 

Even Rouge was acutely aware of his brother's worry. He didn't know much about the other realms, not as much as Blue, but he knew enough to see that there might be a problem. Realms, he understood, were delicate in their base form. To screw around with them in that state literally resulted in life or death scenarios of the worst kind, and they were literally altering time before anything even existed. For all he knew, they were killing millions of people by altering one variable. Or perhaps they were giving life to the Grim Reaper himself.

 

“Want me to cast a spell so we can hear them?” he whispered to Blue, as the Time Lord cursed and fretted over the machine. But Blue shook his head, crossing his arms.

 

“We may not want to know,” he reasoned calmly, and looked at his brother, “What do you think could be wrong?” Rouge had no idea; anything could've happened at that point. But Zozma, ever the creative force of the temporary team, had a few ideas. And no matter how stupid they seemed, he always shared them. He grinned.

 

“Maybe they messed up and blew our world up!” the red-headed Mystic declared, a bit too proudly for Blue's comfort, “Come on! Imagine how awesome that'd be!” Sadly, the thought of seeing their beloved world turning into a smoldering fireball of death just didn't appeal to Blue, and it certainly didn't appeal to Rouge, Ildon, or Ciato, either. Even Fuse, so normally tuned out to Zozma's nonsense, shook his head at such a stupid accusation.

 

“Fire ain't funny to laugh at, boy, and my dad was an arsonist,” the older cop scolded sternly, and frowned, “Why, I remember the wildfire of '64. Tons of houses and stuff burned in about six hours, and no one was laughing about that one. No one except my dad, and that's because he started it.” If he meant to actually make a point, he failed entirely. But he did send everyone practically speechless with his story. Mainly because no one knew how to respond to sheer stupidity. Rouge blinked for what felt like an eternity. For a guy who dedicated his life to the law, and preserving what he thought was it, Fuse certainly had a questionable background.

 

“Right, and why were we supposed to care?” Ciato asked, and everyone stared at him now. He gave a cocky grin, “Didn't that happen about sixty-some-odd billion years from now? Technically, did it even happen at this point?” Fuse's mouth opened, ready and waiting to fight the Mystic on that note. Then, he closed his mouth. They were at the very beginning of time, at the very edge of all the realms. Technically, Ciato was right. Nothing happened at this point, because time didn't exist yet. Humanity hadn't created it. He turned away quickly.

 

“Why don't we just ask my uncle about it, for that matter?” Fuse decided aloud, and Ciato laughed triumphantly. For once, Fuse didn't have a good comeback, or even a stupid one that sounded good. But he did have a decent suggestion, and when it came right down to it, that was one they all decided to follow. The only problem was, whatever was wrong was so bad, that neither Kylin nor the Time Lord paid the least bit attention to any of them, even as Zozma took out his sword and poked them with it. Blue and Rouge stood in the back a bit, watching the whole time. Something wasn't quite right here.

 

“Bro, what're you thinking?” Rouge asked Blue, when he saw how focused Blue had gotten. Blue's lips thinned. In truth, he was worried. Kylin had said this might be complicated, but with two masters of two separate realms working together, it should've been simpler. And since only one realm existed at this point in time, it should've been quick, too. Had one variable come out of sync? Or had something happened to make it register incorrectly?

 

“What if Kylin can't fix what he's done?” Blue asked, and Rouge frowned deeply, “You heard him, Rouge. If even one thing is triggered, our world might have been destroyed before it was even created. What if something happened? What if he warped space badly enough to warrant his power being lost?” Rouge didn't like that possibility. Magic was rarely ever lost; it always went somewhere, be it some pocket of space for safekeeping until someone else could tap into it. But if Kylin gave someone else access to space magic… Blue's theory might be right. He looked at his brother incredulously. Then he turned sharply and, pushing past Ciato and Ildon, ran to where Kylin was sitting. He looked at the screen quickly, searching it for any clues as to what might've been happening. But all he saw were dots that seemed to pinpoint various points on a line. He couldn't understand it.

 

“What's wrong? What's going on?” Rouge asked, looking up at the Time Lord, who finally seemed to notice that they had all been watching. There was an amused, little smile on the old Mystic's face. He pointed his chin toward the screen.

 

“There are some breaks in the timeline that we can't quite seem to repair,” the Mystic said simply, tapping his foot on the ground, “And until we do, we can't fix what's been broken. That may explain the shakiness in my realm.”

 

“So are you saying we're stuck here!?” Ciato demanded furiously, brows creasing in a sharp V. The Time Lord merely glanced behind his shoulder and gave a curt nod. He wasn't in the mood to be yelled at right then.

 

“We have no choice. There's technically no time to travel on,” the old lord replied calmly, but seriously, “Some of them are so tiny that we can repair them, but some have gaps as long as six thousand years. We can't just allow six thousand years of time to be lost. It could destroy the very foundations of evolution.” Ciato's eye twitched. This was why he hated humanity so much; leave it to stupid things like evolution to screw up what should've been an easy problem to fix. To him, it was as simple as using some magic and then going home. Then again, he wasn't the Time Lord and he didn't give a crap about time. He was immortal, for crying out loud!

 

Finally, he snapped. He wasn't quite sure what caused it or why, but he snapped. There was no logical reason for it; literally, the mere thought of floating around in the time-space continuum, before time or space even existed, where one false move would wipe out his existence, drove him off the deep end. There was no logical reason, just like there was no logical explanation for what he did to end the madness. His breath went ragged, and before he could even get a grip on what he was doing, he pushed the Time Lord out of his way and stormed up to the terminal. Whether he wanted to destroy it, bash it, or work on it, he wasn't sure. He just had to do something to alter this.

 

Eyes glowing, he looked at the screen. Nothing but a bunch of numbers and symbols in a formula he couldn't understand. Variables, as Kylin called them. His wings quivered. Again with those foolish human mathematics! Pressing a button, he wiped the screen clear. He was only mildly aware that there were others watching him. Others that might be disapproving of his bold act of madness.

 

“Dude, what the hell are you doing!?” Zozma asked, eyes widening as he realized what Ciato did, “Stop! You might destroy this plane!”

 

“What of it!?” Ciato snapped back furiously, “I'm tired of this world! I'm tired of this job! I'm ending this nonsense and going home!” Zozma's mouth dropped, but he was too frozen in terror to do anything. Fuse, who'd watched with mild amusement, just snorted and looked away.

 

“Funny. I don't remember hiring you,” he mumbled. Zozma's attention came crashing back and he stared at the old cop for a minute.

 

“That's not the point!” the red-head cried out in exasperation, and clutched his forehead, “Ciato, are you crazy!? You could kill us all!” Unfortunately, that didn't stop the mad Mystic's idea or desire. He glanced back, his eyes so blazingly red that it sent shivers up Zozma's spine. Zozma wasn't used to feeling fear.

 

“You act like that's bad,” Ciato growled, and turned back, pressing a button, “This little rabbat went to the slaughterhouse.” He pressed another button and they heard a loud explosion, “This little rabbat went to the grave.” He pressed another button, and space itself seemed to quake in terror, “This little rabbat went to hell. And this little rabbat went home!” Grinning psychotically, Ciato pressed one more button. And this time, Ildon and Zozma reacted. They both rushed to him, swords drawn, attempting to stop him before what they knew would happen happened.

 

“Ciato, stop it!” Zozma cried, as Ildon screamed, “You don't know what you're doing!” But they were too late. The button had been pressed. And just like that, time stopped. Everything stopped. The terminal disappeared, the stars around them burned out and died, and the background changed to pure darkness. In just one second, everything ended.

 

And yet Rouge was aware he was still alive. Within that one second, another passed, and then another. Then a minute passed, and for all he knew, an hour after that. But he dared not to open his eyes. How could he open them and see that nothing existed? How could he see and accept that he was nothing more than a phantom floating in the continuum, that his brother shared a similar fate? That everything he loved was gone; so close and yet worlds and planes apart? And how could he accept that Ciato was the cause of it all? The same Mystic who had pulled him out of harm's way, had respectfully left him alone, and who he was beginning to relate to. How could he have done this?

 

As time ticked away, Rouge knew he had to face what could be the end of his life. He had done it before. He had seen death when Blue killed him. But this was different. What Blue had done was forced upon them both. Ciato did this out of hatred, not out of survival. He had to see where this led. And taking a breath of fresh air, Rouge's eyes shot open.

 

What he saw nearly paralyzed him. He was not dead, and neither was Blue. They were in a desert, a barren waste, and neither were harmed. But where was everyone else? As he looked, Rouge saw that only he and Blue were there, wherever they were. For miles, all he saw were rocks, sand, and dunes, rippling under the day's heat. But no signs of life, either Human, Mystic, or Esper. Where did Ciato send them? Rouge wanted to ask this, but no one could've answered. And he feared they may have been killed. But he had survived, and that had to be proof that the others had, too. And so, Rouge stood up.

 

The sand beneath him felt solid and grainy. That gave him reassurance, as did the feeling of his foot landing on actual ground. Being trapped in space, he had lost all sense of gravity. It felt wrong just to be standing, but it was reassuring to not float off in random directions. After walking in place to get a sense of balance, Rouge moved to his next objective: to help Blue. The elder mage was alive, and breathing. That was another reassurance. As Rouge bent down, he felt his brother's warm breath on the back of his hand, and he smiled. Blue survived, just as he had. Which meant that he should do the brotherly thing and wake Blue up. After all, it did look as if the mage were simply sleeping.

 

“Blue, wake up!” Rouge said, shaking Blue as he used to when they were kids, “Come on! We have to go!” Blue moaned in annoyance, and stirred, turning and staring at Rouge with one open eye. And he grunted.

 

“Go away. I'm tired,” he mumbled. Rouge almost laughed. That was a typical Blue response. But the severity of the situation robbed him of his usual snarkiness. He frowned.

 

“We're in a different world, I think,” Rouge said seriously, and Blue's eyes shot open, “We're actually somewhere. I just don't know where.” Blue sat up quickly. They were someplace… but they couldn't have been in another world. Could they? Was Ciato that powerful? He was only a Mystic Prince, and a somewhat young one at that. But he did have magic beyond even Blue's…

 

Blinking to clear away the exhaustion he felt, Blue looked around to see exactly what Rouge meant. The barren desert stretched on for miles, a sea of sand, with not a tree nor a rock in sight. But where in their world was a desert? Blue had learned many of his world's natural habitats; deserts hadn't been one of them. But that didn't mean they couldn't exist. Except that he knew this was no area marked on any modern maps. He wasn't quite sure how he knew. Call it intuition. His guts told him Rouge might be right. But if that were true, the others should have been with them.

 

“Rouge, where are the others?” Blue asked him gently. Rouge's lips thinned. That one, he couldn't answer. Nor did he want to. Their friends could've been lost forever in the vortexes between space and time, and they couldn't recover them. And the one man who caused it… Rouge's skin paled and he turned away. Inside, he felt torn up. He wanted to hate Ciato, but something was stopping him.

 

“I have no idea,” Rouge said, his voice shaky with anger. Blue noted that, but was smart enough not to press. Rouge may have been nicer, but he had a violent temper, too. He was the emotional one of the two, after all. Blue turned toward one direction. They had to start somewhere.

 

“Pretty safe to assume it might be impossible to find them. Rouge… what happened before we came here? Do you even remember?” Blue asked, not even realizing how much that question hurt. The truth was, Rouge knew. Blue was too focused on making sure the Time Lord was all right. But Rouge was focused on Ciato. The man lost his mind. And Rouge saw what happened. But was he the only one who saw? No… Ildon and Zozma had seen, as well. Fuse may have, too. He looked down.

 

“N-no. I didn't,” he replied, knowing Blue might know he was lying. But if he did, the older magician didn't state it. Blue just nodded and stood, looking stoic and gaunt in the blazing sun. He didn't know where they could go, but any place seemed better than this. He stood staring, just a few seconds, out over the wastes. It was silent.

 

“We'd better start looking, then. Maybe we'll find some clues… somewhere,” Blue suggested, glancing at his brother. Rouge nodded, but Blue sensed he wasn't entirely there on that subject. And while it worried him, Blue didn't press. He took a breath, and clapped his brother on the back as he said, “We'll find them. Don't worry.”

 

“I know, Blue. I know we will,” Rouge replied distantly. Blue looked at his little brother just once more, and with a heavy, worried heart, began to lead him onward. Where they were heading, neither of them knew. But their friends… Fuse, Ildon, Zozma, even the elder Mystics and Kylin. They would be found. Even if it took the brothers to the farthest plane of existence. Blue had to believe that. He had to for Rouge's sake.

 

-----------------------------(End Chapter)

 

And so, Ciato managed to royally screw everyone to their early graves. After just one or two jobs, the old Mystic finally snapped and destroyed the universe. It's just too bad there's more than one universe. Stranded in one of them, Blue and Rouge must now search for their friends and find a way home. Can they? Or has Ciato destroyed everything? Will this be the final leg of our twins' quest? Find out next chapter, so click that Review button!